Editors Note: This is NOT a paid political advertisement or endorsed by anyone other than the writer / author of this blog. On Monday, August 19th, Democratic Presidential candidate Julián Castro unveiled a platform focused on advancing the welfare of animals around the globe, both domestic and wildlife. It would raise standards for factory farms […]

They said it couldn’t happen. They said wild salmon would never breach penned-up fish farms. They were wrong. And that’s a big problem. On June 11, 2019, members from the ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ / Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, including Tribal Parks Guardians and members of the Clayoquot Sound Indigenous Salmon Alliance, boarded and inspected open net pen […] […]

President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency has escalated tensions all across the southern border. The large majority of residents who live near the Mexican border don’t want the Wall built. Their reasons include fear of the government’s use of eminent domain, the high probability of flooding from a built wall, concern of escalating tensions […] […]

Just when you thought your food choices were clear and safe. UK firm The John Innes Centre has applied for permission to plant experimental genetically modified wheat and broccoli in open fields at their farm outside Norwich, in the United Kingdom. The research company hopes to begin two small-scale field trials in April. In 2017, […]

When you consider our nation’s health, the quality of our food, its decreasing nutritional value and the increased degradation of our farmland, it’s not a pretty picture — and the challenges related to these issues keep growing. By 2050 the world’s population will likely reach close to 9 billion people. To feed everyone, we’ll need […]

The Netherlands has one-upped the rest of the world yet again. Previously it was with their solar powered bike path, which opened in 2014 in a suburb outside of Amsterdam. In a country where there are admittedly more bikes than people, the government’s commitment to sustainability and innovation is inspiring.

Many factors must come together to make a city (or a country) sustainable. These include energy efficient buildings, the use of solar and wind, pedestrian plazas and minimizing traffic congestion to reduce carbon emissions. Another factor is the use of recycled materials.

The use of recycled asphalt isn’t a new idea. A number of cities, including New York City, have been using recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) to replace damaged or potholed asphalt for the past few years. But Rotterdam, Netherlands, is doing something a bit different.

Florida-based Arizona Chemical – the leading producer and biorefiner of pine chemicals – has begun construction of a 100 percent recycled asphalt pavement bike lane in Rotterdam. This is the first time all three layers of pavement – the sub, base and top layers – of a bicycle road will be made this way.

Until now, the most recycled content has been limited to between 30 to 40 percent on a global basis. But Arizona Chemical has developed a biobased rejuvenator – SYLVAROAD ™ RP 1000 – which regenerates used bitumen and will give the asphalt properties similar to regular asphalt.The raw material used in this process comes from crude tail oil, a by-product of the wood pulp manufacturing process of pine trees. So far, trials using the rejuvenator have been successful with up to 75 percent reclaimed asphalt in the mix, and similar results are expected with the use 100 percent recycled materials.

This project is a collaboration between the Port of Rotterdam, Rotterdam Municipality, KWS Infra and Arizona Chemical. There are many sustainability factors to this project:

less transportation trips mean a lower carbon footprint for the project

and the recycled asphalt used is from a local source so it’s being upcycled (in a sense) to a second life locally

If the materials of this bike path stand the tests of time and use, it will likely become a model for future use on a global basis. One can hope that this would be used here in the U.S. as we continue to build out more bicycle lanes. Seems like a good fit, don’t you think?